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Ocotber 14, 2001
Fall Festival Worship
1 Corinthians 12:7-18
Pastor Robert Raasch

You are God's Gifted People!

1. You are Unique
2. You are United

Just for a minute, I'd like you to imagine that when you walked into the auditorium this morning, instead of receiving a bulletin from the usher, you received a wrapped present. In fact, there in the back of the auditorium there was a whole stack of presents, and every single person received a present, of every shape and color and size. And now you're sitting in your seat wondering, "What is this all about? I wonder what's in here? I wonder what my gift is?" Now, if that were to be reality, you could say that you are all very "gifted people," right?

Well, unfortunately, you did not all receive a wrapped present when you walked in today. But that doesn't mean that you are not still very "gifted people." You are gifted people. But the gifts you have were not distributed by a group of ushers. They were distributed by the Holy Spirit himself. That's the point which St. Paul makes in our text for today. Here St. Paul makes it clear that as Christians,

You are God's Gifted People!

Here Paul point out that as God's gifted people,

1. You are Unique
2. You are United

First, you are unique. That's not hard to see, is it? Every single one of you was created by God with different looks, different abilities, different strengths and weaknesses. Here in our text. St. Paul draws a parallel between each one of you as unique individuals and the different parts of a human body. You think about the different parts of the body. There are no two members exactly the same, are there? Take something as simple as a finger, for example. Each one is unique, isn't it. Each one serves a little different purpose, doesn't it. This finger is for telling somebody, "You've done a good job." Put it together with this finger and you've got your toy gun. And this pinkie finger you hold out when you sip your cup of tea. Each one is unique.

Well, here in our text, St. Paul says that the same thing is true of the members of Christ's body, the church. When God the Holy Spirit called us to faith, he gave us different gifts, different abilities, different functions within the church. Paul writes, "To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith, to another gifts of healing, or miraculous powers or prophecy or speaking in tongues or interpreting tongues."

These are just a few of the special abilities which the Holy Spirit has given to Christians like you and me down through the centuries. Now, it's important to recognize that some of the gifts which St. Paul lists here would fall under the category of sign gifts or confirmatory gifts-gifts which the Holy Spirit have to early Christians to confirm that the message that the Apostles proclaimed was in fact, from God. Gifts like miraculous powers and speaking in tongues are gifts which God poured out on his church in an earlier age, but which are no longer necessary now that we have our hands what St. Peter calls "the word of the prophets make more certain," namely the Holy Scriptures.

And yet, even if the Spirit hasn't given us the gift of tongues, that doesn't mean he hasn't given us plenty of gifts. Scripture offers a whole list of spiritual gifts. Everything from the gift of teaching to the gift of giving, the gift of leading and the gift of serving, the gift of encouraging and the gift of shepherding. In fact, immediately after this worship service, you'll all have a chance to learn a little more about spiritual gifts and more importantly, begin to discover what particular gift or gifts you may have received from God. Are you a helper or a leader. Do you have the gift of showing mercy or the gift of intercession? Discovering your personal spiritual gift is an important step in getting the most of our your life as a disciple of Christ.

You might say that discovering your spiritual gift is a little like opening a Christmas present. Remember that imaginary gift you received when you came into the auditorium today? Well, in a sense, God the Holy Spirit has planted a similar gift inside each one of you. This morning God is inviting you to open it up. Discover how God has uniquely equipped you to serve him and your fellow believers. You are unique. You are a part of the body of Christ. And the gifts you possess have been specifically entrusted to you according to God's perfect plan and purpose. How does St. Paul put it? "God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be."

And yet, the fact that you are uniquely gifted by God can sometimes present some challenges, can sometimes create some problems in the church. To illustrate that, let's go back to that imaginary gift you received when you walked in the door. Imagine that when you opened your gift, it turned out to be a musical instrument. All across the auditorium, people have opened up their gift to find a flute, a trumpet, a drum, a kazoo. And everyone is thinking, "This is a neat gift. I'd better start playing it. Uh oh, everyone else is playing. I'd better start playing louder." What are you going to end up with? You're going to end up with racket, right? It will be a holy uproar.

Now for all those instruments to truly make music together, they all need to be on the same page. They are going to need to somehow be united. Well, so it is with the different members of the body of Christ, the Holy Christian Church. When you have all these different spiritual gifts being distributed to individual Christians, it's critical that we somehow be united. And that's is exactly what God has done for us. Here in our text. St. Paul says that, as God's Gifted People, we are not only Unique. II. We are also United.

How does St. Paul put it? "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." In other words, even though we are all unique individuals, still we are connected to the head of the body, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, and connected to our fellow members. Isn't that true of the parts of the human body? Have you ever seen a pair of fingers walking down the street? Even though you might let your fingers do the walking through the Yellow Pages, you never see a pair of fingers walking down the street. No, those fingers are always connected to a hand, which is connected to an arm, connected to a body, which is connected to the head. Apart from the body, those fingers are useless.

So it is with you and me as members of the body of Christ. You and I are most useful when connected to the body of Christ. You and I are most effective, we are best able to carry out God's plan for our lives and our church, not when we are working independently, but when we are working interdependently. In other words, when we're leaning on each other and supporting each other as we work toward a common cause. Working interdependently means recognizing that there are some things that tie us together, things that we have in common. What are some things that we have in common? Well, for now, let's focus on two things we have in common as Christians.

The first thing we have in common? Every one of us is an adopted child. Did you know that? Did you know that you were not born into God's family? You and I were born into Satan's family. We were under the Devil's control and separated from God by our sins. But God almighty wanted us to be in his family, so he adopted us. Now maybe you're thinking to yourself, "Well, that's not so hard to believe. I mean, why wouldn't God want to adopt me? I'm a pretty good guy. Pretty well behaved. My mom always said I was a beautiful baby. Why wouldn't God adopt me?

Well, put yourself in God's shoes for a minute. In order to adopt even one sinful baby into his family, you know what God had to do? He had to sacrifice his only Son. If you had to make that kind of trade, would you do it? If you had only one child and you had a chance to adopt a second child, but it would mean sacrificing the life of your first born, your own flesh and blood, would you do it? I wouldn't. But God did. And he did it just so that you could become his own holy, precious child, a member of his family. I think some of you know how much it costs a child these days. Well just think of the price that God paid to adopt you into his family!

And yet, as any of you who come from a large family know, sometimes family members don't always see things the same way. Sometimes they have different ideas where the family should go on vacation, for example. Sometimes it seems like each member has his or her own agenda. "This is what I want to do." Well, sometimes the same thing can happen among the members of God's family. Someone might say, "I well, I think the church should be fighting poverty. I think we should take care of ourselves first, or I don't want to do anything. I'm already too busy."

How do you bring all these divergent views together? Well, God brings us all onto the same page, he defines our purpose as Christians and as a Christian congregation by issuing what has been called the Great Commission. In Matthew, chapter 28, Jesus issues this command for his church. He tells us, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

There, my friends, is our common mission. It's the common task that unites us as fellow believers. It's what we're here to do as Gods' gifted people. God left us on this planet to "make disciples for Christ." Making disciples for Christ begins with ourselves committing ourselves to be students of the Word, so that by Gods' grace and strength, we might display a kind and forgiving attitude toward our fellowman. Making disciples for Christ means bringing up our children in the training and instruction of the Lord, both in our homes and through institutions of Christian education like Mount Olive or Fox Valley Lutheran High School. Making disciples for Christ means using our financial gifts to support gospel ministry that can have an eternal impact on the lives of young and old alike. Making disciples for Christ means working to discover our spiritual gifts and plugging them in carry out the mission of the church. Making disciples for Christ-that's the common mission that unites us as men, women and children, fellow members of the body of Christ.

In that sense, you might say that the Christian Church is a bit like an orchestra, right? And when left to our own devices, when we are all doing our own thing, we make a whole lot of racket. But, by giving us a common mission, God has put us all on the same page. It's God's love in Christ that tells us why we are to play. His commission is what tells us what we are to do.

Are there times when we hit the wrong note? Sure, there are. But God is there to say, "I forgive you. I'm not going to kick you out. You're still in my orchestra." And there are times when we are tempted to say, "What good am I? No one will miss me if I stop playing." What does God do? He says, "Wait a minute. I don't hear the piccolo playing. You have a very important part. I need you. You're one of my gifted people."

My friends, do you see the big picture here? We're all members in God's orchestra. There's not a single one of us who has earned a spot in God's orchestra. None of us has passed the audition. The fact is, we were all born tone deaf sinners. And yet, in pure grace, what did God do for us? He made the ultimate sacrifice to adopt us into his family. He equipped us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and he's given us the tools we need to carry out the opus he's prepared for us. And now he calls us to start playing, that is, to put our gifts into action, to blend together with one another with the kind of harmony that is truly pleasing to God. And as we do that, with God's gifts and under his direction, you can be sure that the music we make will truly be a symphony in God's ears. To God be the glory. Amen.